Summary of the Project:

Earthquakes have been a re-occurring natural disaster which can have extravagant impacts on people’s lives. They are a substantial problem that occurs around many major countries and civilizations that are located on the Ring of Fire. We have been tasked with the project of creating an earthquake-resistant building from spaghetti and blue tack which can survive an earthquake simulator and a weight test. Each group was given $60 to buy spaghetti and blue tack, as there was a limit to how much spaghetti and blue tack we could use. Our building was successful, surviving the 10 second earthquake simulator and 250 grams of weight placed on the top of the building.  

(photo of our first design)

Overview of the engineering process: What changes would you make to the process that would improve the outcomes for your group in future?

In the engineering process, we had to first research design features that would help make a structure earthquake resistant. After including these in our design we had to estimate the costs of our building. We spent exactly 60 dollars on the spaghetti and blue tack used to construct our tower. We made a 2D design for our structure on our computers. In this design, we included our earthquake-resistant features such as joints, stabilizers, and trusses. These design features made our structures more stable. The use of these features shows that buildings become more earthquake-resistant from real-life examples. We made the design 2D because each side of our tower is the same. After this, we started building our structure which took us a long time and a large amount of effort. During this challenge, we had to overcome and face a lot of challenges. One way to improve our structure was in the building process. We should have measured our spaghetti with a ruler before cutting it, so we didn’t waste as much and were able to use more of it in our structure. Another way of improving our structure was in the design process. We should have made our design 3D, this would have made it clearer when building our structure because it would have shown how the spaghetti was arranged on the inside. 

(photo of our second design)

Collaboration:

Each member of our group had important roles which required everyone to have their own special strengths. Saya was allocated as the project manager which required her to be responsible, help her team members understand the challenge and keep everyone on track. She used her strengths of leadership and responsibility to fulfil this role. I was allocated as the equipment manager, which required me to be organized and help the group with the physical aspect of the project. I completed this by using my communication skills and initiative. Tyler was allocated as a speaker and reporter which required him to be creative, confident and able to problem-solve to help find answers. This required Tyler to use his strengths of organization and integrity. 

(Photo of Saya working on our structure)

Video:

(video of the earthquake test)